For many many years I have had severe allergies. I have just recently been diagnosed with sjogren's syndrome. I am also very tired all of the time, and I have depression and anxiety. I am hypoglycemic as well. I also have irritable bowel syndrome.

My allergist has now decided that this is ALL due to my diet, and the fact that I eat carbohydrates. Food is the root of all evil, according to him.

So he has put me on a very very restricted diet with absolutely NO carbohydrates. None at all. I am basically eating meat, chicken and fish, as well as certain vegetables and fruits. No spices, no sauces, no dairy, no grains, no potatoes, no rice, no oils, no seasonings, no eggs, no sugar, no sugar substitutes, etc... :EEK:
I am having very bad symptoms as a result of this diet. I am feeling like I am going to pass out, I am getting terrible stomach aches (too many veges). I am getting VERY VERY depressed and anxious over this. I am having panic attacks and crying all the time. My dr says this is all part of the "withdrawl" because I am "addicted" to carbohydrates. He says it is the same as if an alcoholic stopped drinking. I don't believe that. I know my own body, and I say that this is as a result of my hypoglycemia (plus, any normal person would feel somewhat sick without any carbs) and my IBS is acting up because I am eating too many veges. He says no, it is all a result of not eating carbs anymore. He calls it a "withdrawl". He says that this is GOOD because in a few days I will be past these symptoms, and then I will lose weight and feel like a new person. I don't know whether to believe that.

I guess what I am asking is, has anyone ever tried to do something like this? Has anybody ever even heard of this? Is it successful? How can I cope with the terrible anxiety that I am getting from not being able to eat the foods that I crave? As it is now, I am sitting here crying. I AM SO SICK OF EATING MEAT! I JUST WANT A STUPID FREAKIN PIECE OF BREAD!

He says I only have to do it for 2 weeks, or maybe a little less, but I have only been doing it for 4 days, and I feel like I have been doing it for 4 years. I cannot handle this. For many years, food has been my only comfort, my only solace, and now he took that away. I am on edge because of that, not because I am having a withdrawl from carbs. I have tried to explain this to him, but he is unwilling to hear it, and he doesn't believe me. I KNOW MY OWN BODY, AND THIS DIET IS NOT WHAT I NEED! Yes, I need to lose weight, but I do not need something this radical. In a way, I almost do not want it to work, so that I can go back to being happy, and I can prove my dr wrong.

I don't have the time to be hypoglycemic and get stomach aches and depression and anxiety. I have a full life, and I cannot even live it while this is going on. I am a 21 year old college student, and I am actually missing all of my classes because due to the fact that I am hypoglycemic and I am not eating ANY carbs or sugars, I feel too sick to move, let alone go to class. When I was eating carbs, I did not have half of these symptoms. Help, I don't know what to do.

Plus, now I feel like if this diet does work, then that means that all of those years that I was sick, it was MY FAULT for eating carbs (highly unlikely) and that I made myself sick.

I might just be rambling here, and I hope you can all follow me and understand what I am trying to say.

Has anybody ever had success with something like this, and can you sympathize with my symptoms? Right now I really just need a few words of encouragement, because I am literally about to have a nervous breakdown. (yes, I do see a therapist and a psychiatrist who are both working with me on this). Please help me. I really really need some support. I feel so alone, like nobody knows what I am going through, cause nobody has done this before. My friends all try to understand, but my so called "best friend" doesn't even want to hear it. Please, I am going through a really bad time right now. I need friends.

Hi purple2067:,
Lots of people have gone on a no carb diet. That you have had severe allergies, I agree with your doctor about your symptoms probably being from what you eat.

After two weeks, you can reintroduce foods slowly and see which ones affect your allergic symptoms. It is worth it to try! It won't take long.

If you can't tolerate all those veggies, you probably have not been eating enough all along! Drink plenty of water every day but not while eating, to help keep your bowels deal with the roughage.

Your depression may let up when you get rid of all the sugar you have been on. Be sure to tyake B complex vitamins daily to feed your nerves.

Food is not evil, but too much carbs and sugars will cause a severe imbalance in the body. Sugars feed candida, yeast and fungus, so we can get over growths in the body.

But I do empathize with you, since going off sugar and carbs is very hard to do and hurts! We are not used to it! You can do this though! I think it is worth the pain and effort and that you will be glad later!

I usually am on the Thyroid Board. Drop over and let me know how you are doing!

[This message has been edited by Tree Frog (edited 10-01-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Tree Frog (edited 10-01-2002).]

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It sounds similar to the diet recommended by Elaine Gottschall in Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I know of a number of people with various digestive disorders who rave over the results of cutting back the heavy-duty carbs.

Wheat in particular can be very irritating on a sensitive digestive track. With IBS, it would be something to consider cutting out as much as possible all the time.

There are carbs in vegetables, so if you are eating lots of veggies, you are getting carbs.

If you cook up cauliflower and mix it with some onions, it is kind of like mashed potatoes.

Hang in there! Two weeks really is not that long in the larger scope of things.

About 5 years ago I had a glucose tolerance test (5 hour blood sugar test) and by the end my blood sugar was down in the fifties. Tonight I tested my sugar after I ate dinner (a nice big steak) and it was only at 93. I have always felt that being hypoglycemic, I could not survive without SOME sort of carbs. I mean, I am not eating ANY carbs at all. No brown rice, no baked potatoes, NOTHING! And to tell you the truth, I am getting very sick of meat! And I am so sick of eating salad with lemon juice! It is absolutely gross!

I know it is only for 2 weeks, but for me that is a very very long time. I have only been doing this for 4 (almost 5) days, and it feels like 4 years.

Does anybody know about carbs causing auto-immune disorders such as sjogrens. My dr said that if this diet was going to help me, all of my symptoms would start to get much worse within a few days (NOW!) of starting it. Well, it has almost been 5 days, and the 2 reasons that I started this diet, severe, dry, allergy eyes, and sinus headaches, have not been any different at all. Not one bit. So does this mean that it is not carbs that are giving me my eye problems and my sinus problems? I personally do not subscribe to this therory at all, and I cannot wait to prove my dr wrong.

If you ask me, I am just having a normal reaction to not having any carbs. ANYBODY who has to go without eating any carbs will feel tired and lightheaded after a few days. Mine is just made worse by the hypoglycemia. What I'm saying is, I feel like that these are just normal symptoms of low blood sugar, and they don't have anything to do with withdrawl from carbs. I mean, I am Jewish, so when I can do it, I try to fast on Yom Kippur. I am getting the same exact symptoms now that I get then, only a hundred times worse. And yes, I am eating. Today I have had 4 bananas, half of a pineapple, 1 apple, 1/4 pound of chicken breast, and a huge steak. My stomach hurts too much to eat anything more. I am full in the tummy, but at the same time my head feels very dizzy and light, and sick, like I haven't eaten all day. I don't care what anybody tells me, it is not healthy for me to be feeling like this. Nothing is helping to bring my blood sugar up. If I eat too much of the meat or chicken, it really makes me nauseous and I want to throw up.

And I am allowed 2 of the following fruits per day:
bananas (he said I could have up to 4 if I need it), 1/2 pineapple, grapefruits (allergic), and 2 pears

That's it. This is all I am surviving on. NO seasonings, spices, oils, no onion, and no garlic. No grilled foods, and only fresh green herbs.

Nothing other than the foods I have listed must go into my body. No brown rice (usually a staple in high protein diets), no potatoes, no grains, no dairy, no bread.

I am calling my dr tomorrow and telling him that if he doesn't add some carbs, (brown rice or a potato would be fine) I am not continuing with this nonsense. I am getting too sick from this. Today I almost passed out from low blood sugar, even though I had just eaten plenty of protein. I cannot do this anymore.

Hello purple2067,
If you stop now you will not be able to find out what foods you may be allergic to that are messing up your bowels and causing other symptoms. Maybe this was not ausing all of your problems, but it may have been the source of many that you described.

You will get plenty of carbs from the vegetables and the fruit you are allowed. Believe it or not, they are in there. Carrots are loaded with sugar, munch on those for snacks, all you want. Bananas and pears have plenty of carbs too. Don't over do with the protein, but eat more vegetables and fruit.

You seem to be addicted to the sugars, and that is not healthy for anyone. I know the withdrawals are painful, but hang in there! I have done this before and I never felt better.

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What your doctor is trying to do is cleanse your body so you both can start from scratch and see exactly what foods are causing you to have the bad symptoms. He will eventually (after the 2 weeks) introduce you again to certain foods, and then you will then see exactly what you need to permanantly stay away from. Sweetie, I know it's hard. But hang in there.......I promise you will be really glad you did.
Hang in there....you only have 9 days left. Just make sure you drink, drink drink.......lots of water.....as for the salad........ask your doctor if you can use plain vinegar so you can at least switch every day.
Take care and god bless

I know I am being stubborn (I REALLY did not want to do this, he just sprung it on me at the last second and I was not at all prepared for the anxiety that would come with the withdrawl!). But aren't there other ways to find out exactly what I am allergic to or what is causing my food sensitivity? Under the skin allergy tests??? What about eliminating one food at a time for a week, and then adding it back? That is how we did it in the past and it worked fine. I am going to try to stick with it as long as possible, but this is really WAY too radical for me. I am at the point now where I am so sick of all of these foods that I do not even WANT to eat anymore. As soon as he tells me I am allowed to have bread, I am gonna go out and get myself a nice salami sandwich (that is ALL I have been craving all week. I am even starting to smell it!) LOL!

And let me restate that the ONLY, and I mean ONLY reason that I agreed to do this diet was because he said it would tell me which foods are causing my very severe eye problems. So far it has not told me anything about that. All it has done is confirm that I am hypoglycemic and that I get gas from eating too many veges. (have had that since I was born, so he can't tell me that I was born with a carb addiction!). My sinus problems have not gotten any worse or better since starting (how long should it really take for all of the symptoms to come out?), and neither have my eye problems. Which as I stated before, was absolutely the ONLY reason that I agreed to try this. Yes, I do want to loose weight, but heck, I can go to a nutritionist for that! Or weight watchers! I don't need to be starved.

Plus, getting back to the eyes, my ophthalmologist, who I would trust with my life, absolutely does not agree that it is foods that are causing my eye allergies. Here is another thing that i forgot to mention before that may be relevant. I live in Staten Island, NY, about 35 minutes away from ground zero. My eye problems did not start until a few days after 9/11. So I truly believe that it really has something to do with all of the debris that was floating around in the air that could have irritated my eyes. When I was a child i had some very very minor eye allergies (maybe for 1 or 2 weeks out of the year my eyes would itch), but now I have them 24/7/365, and they are a hundred times worse than anything you can even imagine. I said it before, and I'll say it again, this diet has not made them better or worse.

I appreciate all of the advice very much, and I love you gus for it and I thank you for caring so much. If I sound angry it is just because I am using this partly as a place to vent my frustrations about this whole stupid diet (there I go again venting).

Must...consume...bread.....rice......
hmm. I live in a korean household and we eat rice everyday. Its really hard :-)
I just read the thing you said about losing weight, so i decided to try it. I think not eating bread is actually making the time go by much..much...very much slower. This two weeks feels Like an eternity. Im on day 3. What are you on purp, day 4 or 5? you're almost there! You have to go at most 9 more days, whats that...only 216 more hours to go!

LOL, when you break it down into hours, then it doesn't seem so bad! I'll be glad when I have got about 3 more hours left. I'm glad you are doing this with me, at the same time. It is nice to have someone else out there to commiserate with! Are you eating enough protein? I don't know about you, but on the third day I decided that I wasn't going to eat anymore. Period. No more meat for me. I was going to live on bananas. Sure, eating steaks all the time sounded cool at first, but when you eat them 24/7 for 3 days, with NO seasoning, it can get pretty gross. I did tell you though that you can use sea salt, right? Boy I am so sick of this diet.

Guys, I know that salami isn't really a lean meat, but since it is not a carb and it has no sugar in it, couldn't I have some? It would make this diet a lot easier for me if I could have a meat that I actually like! Steak, turkey, and chicken are getting OLD!!!

yeah, I was thinking about Tuna. I like Tuna. But sometimes it gives me indigestion. And I did have some salami. I probably shouldn't be eating it, but I figure that if having some salami (maybe 8 very thin slices of genoa) instead of turkey breast or roast beef for lunch is going to keep me sane and help me stay on the diet, then it's doing me more good than harm. I like rolling the salami with the turkey. Now, add a little mayo to that....I also did try putting some pineapple and a banana into the blender with ice. Mmmmmmmm. That came out good, like a smoothie. I used about a cup of Dole crushed pineapple (ok from doc)with the juice, about 5 ice cubes, and 1 banana (it's all I had, today I'm going to use 2). I blended it until it was liquified but still had some chunks in it. That was really good, and very satisfying. Oh, btw, my dr also told me that I can have some kiwis every third day. Every third day my foot. On the diet it says to either alternate the fruits from day to day, or have a good variety of them each day. I choose to have the variety. Man, if I had to live without bananas, I would go crazy. I ran out of them last night and almost had a heart attack. But not to worry, I got about 12 of them today. (good for at least 3 or 4 days!) I do think that I might have lost a little weight, but my scale has gone haywire, so I can't really tell until I go back to the dr. (it'll tell me that i weigh 3 pounds less, and then 15 minutes later it'll tell me I weigh 5 pounds more!)